French Department welcomes CapU students to celebrate Canada’s bilingualism

An homage to fromage

The French Department is throwing a party on Mar. 15 at noon, and you’re invited!

Helen Aikenhead // Features Editor

This month marks the 20th Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF), a celebration of Canada’s French and English bilingualism observed across the country throughout the month to surround Journée Internationale de la Francophonie on March 20. The RVF has been connecting French and English communities all over Canada for two decades in over 3,000 events that take place around the country in recognition of the event.

This year, the CapU French Department will also be celebrating by hosting their own rendez-vous in the Language Resource Centre (LRC, Arbutus 117). Over the years, the department has hosted French cafés and French cinéma get togethers, but this will be the first time they celebrate Les Rendez-Vous to honour its anniversary.

Catherine Gloor, CapU French instructor and LRC supervisor explained the importance of celebrating here on the west coast. “Les Rendez-vous celebrates one of Canada’s official languages and all the diverse cultural aspects of the Francophonie here in Canada,” she said. “We have French speaking people of Acadian, Métis, Québécois, African and European heritage here in Vancouver and we’ve built a multicultural community that reflects some of the best aspects of Canada.”

The LRC’s Rendez-vous will be filled with games, prizes, a relaxed atmosphere to test French skills (although they aren’t required to attend) and plenty of free cheese from France, Québec and Switzerland for students to enjoy.

For the French Department, it was important to take part in Les Rendez-Vous celebrations this year. “More than ever before CapU is becoming an international place of learning. In the French Department we have a truly innovative way of teaching where conversation and cultural insights are our raison d’être [reason for being],” said Gloor. “In many parts of the world, speaking several languages is a given and this is a practical and sought after skill in the global environment – I think sometimes we forget about that in Canada and lose out on many opportunities.”

Like all of the events hosted by the LRC, all levels of language comprehension are welcome to take part in the event. The goal of the day is to welcome the students of CapU into a fun and relaxed environment to immerse themselves in the French atmosphere the language faculty strives to create. The LRC invites students to attend what’s sure to be one of CapU’s most exciting parties of the year. Did they mention free cheese?